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Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. Matthew 13:45-46.
Anytime you read or hear about the kingdom of heaven, its speaking of the world to come by which we are now saved by hope. We are not yet in heaven and we shall not be there until our earthly tabernacle is dissolved, when mortality shall be swallowed up by life. 2 Cor. 5:4.
The church is not the pearl of a great price, but the lost coin, a lost sheep and a prodigal son (Luke. 15): yes, God loved the inhabitants of the world, and for them he sent Christ to die: but Christ will one day, make his final choice of those that shall be accounted worthy to enter life as a man will separate his sheep from the goats.
The church was bought back to God by the incorruptible blood of Christ as his purchased possession (Eph.1:14), but Christ made sacrifice of himself in obedient to God to become our righteousness and to finalize the eternal transaction, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Christ is by whom all things were made, the heir of all things: he doesn’t have to sell who anything to possess us rather than his life which he willingly gave (he poured out his soul unto death. Isaiah.53:12) that we might live through him. It was man who has for his iniquities sold himself to Satan and must therefore, in Christ Jesus, sell everything in his possession to obtain one pearl of a great price among othe goodly pearls. His positional relationship with the Father as one that came out of God has never for once been sold out for whatever reason on earth as Esau sold his birthright (Philippians 2:6): he was always the Father’s beloved Son on earth- doing those things which pleases him as he declared ‘I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. John 16:28.
The church is the spiritual or invisible kingdom of God on earth, and those who had repented from their sins and are born again by water and spirit see or enter into this kingdom of God (John 3:5) in preparation for the kingdom of heaven which is at hand (Mt.3:2): the former is the rule of God within us (and when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. Luke 17:20-21), the purpose of which the Son of God has come down from heaven to earth to form and to make us as one with him in his body through his death in our baptism unto him, join with Father through the Spirit – at that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. John 14:20. Is this not one of the blessings of the riches of God’s grace (Eph.2.7) which are reserved to be shown unto us in time to come, but the elects are already enjoying some now, that the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is with us now and forever?
Each member of the body of Christ is united with him through baptism to be a branch in the vine which the Father prune periodically to bring forth much more fruit, or be cut off, if it is not bearing fruit of the wise children of the kingdom (Prov.11:30) and the fruits of increasing transformative life of righteousness unto holiness in his preparation for heaven. 2 Pet. 1:5-10. This is the place where believer’s love to live for Christ or to live for himself is tested (for the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. 2 Cor.5:14-15), if he truly deserves the pearl of a great price reserved for those who shall overcome the flesh, the sins in the world – the love of it (James 1:27), and of the things thereof in the conformity and friendship with the world. James 4:4. 1 John 2: 15-17.
Do not confuse the kingdom of God with the kingdom of heaven. The subjects in the former are called to serve him in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy- Ghost (Rom. 14:17), but not everyone presently in the kingdom of God shall enter into the kingdom of heaven if they don’t do will of Christ Father which is in heaven. Mt. 7:21.
This is where the immeasurable worth and the inestimable riches of Christ in his saints are put into test in the daily life of the subject in the kingdom of God, and of the choices of faith they are obligated to make as they advance in their walk to heaven. This is where the sense of worth and consciousness of Christ’s indispensability in their days of adversity or prosperity is brought into question and consideration.
Would they be willing to do anything for Christ to advance the cause of their brethren in the Lord? Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all. Philippians 2:17. Would something else be valued over Christ to reduce their affection and devotion in singleness of heart before him? This was the error of the brethren at the Laodicea church (because thou says, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knows not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou may be rich; and white raiment, that thou may be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that thou may see. Rev. 3:17), but to them who have come to know the indispensability of Christ, their sole satisfaction and true contentment is found in those things which constitute to the true worth and value of Christ riches, willing to let go of anything, including their earthly personal prestige and worldly accolade to keep their greatest possession of an inheritance incorruptible in Christ, which is Christ himself.
You are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1 Cor.6:20. Could you just think about the zealousness and the willingness of the merchant man, who having found the pearl of a great price, sold everything that he had to gain and keep that single pearl of a great price? To him, the risk worth taken! Is there any measurable price which is comparable to the precious unblemished blood of the Lamb by which you were washed, saved, sanctified and preserved through the power of God to the end? The price of the pearl is immeasurable and its cost is nonnegotiable, except that you must sell or give up all that you have to possess this altogether lovely and worthy Christ all alone.
The cost price of the pearl of the great price as your possession demands your sanctification in the body, soul and spirit in separation and holiness unto God from the world and from the ungodly men of the world: separation from every evil appearances, and not going about flaunting your body in God’s present kingdom with strange clothing or habiliment (and it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord’s sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king’s children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel. Zephaniah 1:8), living without understanding of what it takes to keep the one needful pearl of a great price in your possession for an inheritance that will not be denied you at the end, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired among them that believed. 2 Thess. 1:10.
As of now, Christ does not have any kingdom on earth (but representatives or ambassadors of his future kingdom. 2 Cor.5:20), just as he did not establish one while he was on earth than the spiritual body of them that are saved by his blood through faith in his name (John 18:36): God’s righteous kingdom is not yet fully established on earth as we keep praying each day ‘thy kingdom come’ until he comes back –until the kingdom of this world shall become the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ. Rev.11:15.
The term ‘the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it’ denotes the awareness, the consciousness, the principle, the requirement, the depth of understanding of what it takes, as a believer, to get to heaven: the sacrifices (positive adaption to the new kingdom’s life without compromises) and the cost of receiving and maintaining Jesus Christ in your life (and this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. John 17:3) as Lord and Savior to the end.
Men of the world will make plan or ignite a war to shed blood for diamond, gold and other precious stones of the earth to acquire or to obtain wealth and power, but how many of us in the kingdom of God realize that we must engage in spiritual battle as the reality of the kingdom warfare, that the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and only the violent shall take it by force? Mt. 11:12. Are men not seeking after what should be their priority and most precious things for them to have in possession or to achieve? How do you take or receive the kingdom of heaven by force while you are presently seeking after your own profits and gain, and not after those things concerning the will and purposes of God in your life, the church and in his children, taking or considering Christ as a means to an end? For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s. Philippians 2:21.
How do you retain the pearl of a great price to the end (but what things were gains to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Philippians 3:7-9) if you have failed to be wise in knowing what the will of the Lord is (Eph5:17) that you might do and fulfill them? On what is your soul attached to, do your soul follows hard after the Lord? Psa.63:8. On what is your mind set upon, have you set the Lord always before you, at your right hand as the pearl of a great price? Psa. 16:8. What is your hope and where is your affection? Is your hope and affection single or is divided? If you are presently withholding and hoarding the monetary blessings and material things by ignoring the instructions to lay up treasure for yourself in heaven, laying a good foundation for yourself against the time to come, could it be said that you are truly laying hold on eternal life for the pearl of a great price awaiting you in heaven?
The salvation in Christ is not purchasable because the source its fountain is from everlasting as the blood which was shed before the foundation of the material and physical world (they that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:  (for the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceases for ever:) that he should still live forever, and not see corruption. Psalms 49:6-9) ever before the fall of man in the Garden of Eden (Rev.13:8), even so are the gifts of grace which comes along with the spirit of regeneration are not marketable (and when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, saying, give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, your money perishes with you, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Acts 8:18-20): whosoever act contrary to God’s word has (a) not only depreciate the worth and value of Christ to the perishable things of this world by the amount of gold and silver he made request from his victims in his failure to minister freely as he has also received freely (Mt.10:5-8): (b) believer is the spiritual merchant man who is gifted with the manifestations of the gifts of the spirit to profit therein, not for himself, but for the profit and blessings of whose sakes they are given to him for service and to help them. Heb. 6:7. It is evil before God to charge people for monetary profit before you exercise the unspeakable gifts of God. Let the immeasurable and unmarketable Christ be your exceeding great reward (but truly I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin. Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, is not the Lord among us? None evil can come upon us. Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest. Micah 3:8-12) as he there are many different ways God is able to bless you in his work, just be faithful as a workman who is worthy of his meat and hire shall have whatever is due unto him from the good God.  It is considered as  an act of betrayal and the abuse of spiritual power in the gospel of Christ if you charge people for money to obtain spiritual blessing from God – it is iniquity and evil – for though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel. 1 Cor. 9:16-18.  
Note: the gain to be acquired from the pearl of a great price outweighed the loss of everything or whatever we have to sell at first in order to possess it, while the possession of this great pearl of a great price in our keeping brings an inestimable rewards of an endless blessings and inheritance without any sorrow here and hereafter (Prov. 10:22): then answered Peter and said unto him, behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first. Mt.19:27-30.
The Lord says whosoever will not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:33. In other words, Christ is saying that whatever is highly esteem by you, which you are holding dear unto you to the extent that such things (material or immaterial, position, ambition or pursuits of life or any relationship that will stand against the will, plans and purposes of God) is allowed to impede the yielding and total surrendering of your time, coming out of your safety zone for his guidance to fulfill his will, purposes and pleasure on earth cannot be his disciple. Faith in God and in his unfailing word is the only risk that is guaranteed not to fail, but taking any other risk in this world without God in your world is needless and worthless: what shall it profit you, if though; you have taken the risk in this life to gain the world, but lose your soul?
The believer should understands that there are certain personal critical choice (s) he is required to make before he can fully lay any claim on Christ as his pearl of a great price (by faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. Heb.11:24-26) when he shall forever be glorified with Christ in heaven.
But for now, he must show, by his singular love in his pursuit for the pearl of great price, his disengagement from the ungodly men, and from the gems of this world –the beauty and the glory of this world: his priority, interest and goal should not be after material and monetary gain, lest he become of them that knows nothing, perverse disputing of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.  1 Tim. 6:3-6.
Everything is at stake if you are not ready to be sold out for Christ. It is either total win or loss for you, if you lose everything, you’ll gain everything. One unique thing special about the merchant man seeking for the pearl of a great price was his ascertainment and readiness to sell all that he has to buy the pearl of a great price. This was a man who is not looking for quantity, but quality. Is there anyone else who is out there to give you a quality and meaningful life in this world in preparation for heaven, apart from him who has come to give you life, that you light have it to its fullness? John 10:10.
This is the testimony of them that loved not their lives so much as to shrink from death (Rev.12:11): Christ is life and all the life to them: for them, it either Christ or nothing. Their love for Christ is stronger than death; they rather die than to lose Christ: they rather lose the applause and commendation of the world than to lose Christ: so, they are willing to lay down their lives – to lose whatever is to be lost to gain Christ. Their ways, conducts, testimonies and lifestyles has honored Christ as their pearl of a great price – their inestimable possession and inheritance, so Christ will also honor, own and confess them to be his in that day when he shall make up his jewels: and they shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son that serves him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God and him that serves him not. Malachi 3:17-18.